MASE meeting- advice please!

[charlotte]

My 15 year old daughter was raped on 9th April by a 17 year old boy she met through a friend on Facebook. She has just been diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome. She disclosed the information to me 5 weeks after the event, after getting drunk. She has a history of self-harm and on this occasion she cut her leg so we took her to hospital where she also told staff about the rape, but has refused to tell the police. Hospital reported it to Children's Services on 29th May, and a Social Worker visited us at home on 19th June. I received a letter today (7th August) asking me to attend a MASE meeting to take place on 12th August. We received the Single Assessment Report only yesterday on 6th August! The report says she has been identified as a child in need. The report is full of inaccuracies, e.g. has her gender down as male! I have been given 7 days to sign the report and return it. It all seems to be happening so last minute and I am very frightened as nobody has explained anything to me. Has anyone been through this please?

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Charlotte,

I am so sorry to hear about your daughter being raped. It must be so upsetting for you and your daughter. Hopefully, I can answer your questions about what is meant by "child in need" to alleviate your fears.

Child in need and what it means

You are worried and frightened about children services intervention. However, do not worry that your daughter has been identified as a child in need.
A child in need only means a child who is under 18 and who needs extra help from Children’s Services:
• to be safe and healthy or to develop properly; or
• a child who is disabled.

Your daughter may, in any event, be a child in need due to her diagnosis of Asperger’s. However, because she has suffered the trauma of rape, will also satisfy this criteria.

The purpose of a child in need plan is to coordinate help and support for your daughter to help her recover from this terrible trauma.

It is not a compulsory plan, so you do not need to agree to it or accept it. However, given what your daughter has suffered it is a good way to get the support that she might need.

All professionals who can offer help and support should be invited to the meeting on the 12th. Ask the social worker who is attending. Is there anyone who you think should be there and is not included?

Is your daughter going to be there? If so, has she got an advocate to help her?

At the end of the meeting, a child in need will be plan drawn up which will say what help will be offered and who will provide it.
A time and date will be given for the further meeting to take place so that the plan can be reviewed to make sure your daughter is getting the support.

The single assessment report

It is important that the assessment is corrected before you sign it. You could email the social worker and team manager with details of the inaccuracies and ask that these are corrected before the meeting. Ask them to bring a corrected report for you to sign.

In case they do not correct the errors before the meeting-you could prepare your own letter listing the main errors. At the beginning of the child in need meeting, you can then make sure everyone present is aware of the correct facts.

If you have any questions, please post back or you could call our advice line on 0808 801 0366.

Best wishes,

Suzie

[charlotte]

thank you for your detailed help. I have photocopied the report and amended the factual errors. I'll take the amended report with me to the meeting with copies for everyone. my daughter is away on holiday with family at mo so knows nothing about what's going on